CHARLESTOWN, Mass. (Jan. 14, 2008) The first major snowfall of the New Year blankets the USS Constitution. Despite the weather Old Ironside, remained open for free public tours. At 210-years-old, USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, manned by 67 active-duty United States Sailors and visited by nearly half a million visitors annually. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Brown (Released)

USS Constitution's 1812 Marine Guard fire vintage Springfield flintlock muskets during the ship's underway. "Old Ironsides" was underway for the "Constitution Day Cruise," which is conducted to thank the family and supporters of Constitution. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Nick Lyman (Released)

OUR TROOPS ROCK!!!!!!!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Please let me know by Freepmail if you would liketo get on or off my music pinglist

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

The Seattle Chamber Music Society holds its Winter Festival over two weekends in January, and I went for the second weekend. On Thursday night they did the 6 Brandenburg Concertos of Bach. But it the Friday night event that drew me 3000 miles.

Id been begging since 2002 for the Schubert G Major Quartet, which is the Mt. Everest of string quartets. Its almost an hour long. The answer I got was always the same: A group of pickup musicians doesnt have the extra rehearsal time to put that one together. In the end it was a professional quartet that presented it.

I had visited the Ehnes String Quartet in Macon in December, and it was this group that performed in Seattle. Jimmy Ehnes (first violin) is the new Artistic Director in Seattle, and he is going far beyond the traditional fare. Amy Moretti (second violin), who runs the music department at Mercer University in Macon, told me that it only took them three rehearsals to put it together. (That kind of musicianship scares me.) Richard ONeill, half-Korean and half-Irish, the violist, had told me of the impossibility of programming this quartet for a festival, but there he was, playing it. Robert deMaine, cellist and good friend, is moving from Detroit to L.A. to take up first chair cello at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which is a huge step up for him.

The quartet performed the Schubert as though the ink were still wet on the page and Schubert were a modern composer. The first movement had a good hard edge to it. Robert played the cello passage in the finale in an appropriately R-rated way. Its really nasty, he told me. It was a great performance and was worth the trip.

Everybody was happy to see me at the concerts, and I discovered that I had been missed. After the Schubert, several people thanked me for being so persistent in requesting that quartet, which had never been performed at the festival.

The traffic was the only thing that marred the trip. Where I live in Georgia, the nearest traffic lights are 20 miles south and 60 miles north. I had forgotten what I-5 was like. But it was good to see my old friends.

34
posted on 01/29/2013 6:47:00 PM PST
by Publius
("A centralized government is a centralized evil." -- Gen. John Graham)

It Is Purchased With The Blood Of Patriots! _________________________________________________________________________________________

Freedom Isnt Free

By Cdr. Kelly Strong USCG (ret)

I watched the flag pass by one day, It fluttered in the breeze. A young Marine saluted it, And then he stood at ease. I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, With hair cut square and eyes alert Hed stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years. How many died on foreign soil How many mothers tears? How many pilots planes shot down? How many died at sea How many foxholes were soldiers graves? No, freedom isnt free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night, When everything was still, I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill. I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant Amen, When a flag had covered a coffin. Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives, I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea Of unmarked graves in Arlington, No, freedom isnt free.

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